The signs are that 2002 should be an exciting year for new music. BBC News Online's Ian Youngs looks at 10 acts who could be camping in your CD player by the end of the year.

Custom

Custom started making music for his film

This man is a ready-made star. Real name Duane Lavold, skate punk Custom is a 6'8" New Yorker who wrote and directed Michael Hutchence's first film, the unreleased Limp. Custom got into music when he needed songs for the film's soundtrack - Hutchence died before he was due to record them.

Two years later, Custom's catchy, 80s-tinged rap-rock tunes Streets and Hey Mister could be the Teenage Dirtbags of 2002. And he was the unknown artist who set messages from former Virgin Records executive Nancy Berry to music and sent the CDs to the label's lawyers and her husband, EMI's former boss Ken.

Of the UK's new rock bands, Lostprophets are tipped as the most likely to become worldwide stars. Despite first causing ripples in 1997, the six-strong Cardiff band - mixing hip-hop and mainstream metal despite being named after a Duran Duran bootleg - have only just put out their first single. They were named best newcomers at the 2001 Kerrang! Awards and are generating great expectations for 2002.

One of the hottest new stars on the garage scene, Ms Dynamite - real name Naomi Maclean-Daley - has supported Eminem and recorded with Shola Ama, Sweetie Irie and So Solid Crew. The 20-year-old north Londoner was named best newcomer at the recent UK Garage Awards, and provided the vocals for Sticky's top 20 hit Booo! in June. We are going to hear a lot more of her voice when her first solo single is released in April.

Minuteman's tunes were built to be played in stadiums, heard on the radio and loved by millions. The music is Smashing Pumpkins-style US alternative rock re-wired to the best, full-blooded UK indie
formula. They were signed by Oasis' manager Marcus Russell, and the package will be complete when main man and ex-Ultrasound keyboardist Matt Jones - who looks like an overgrown member of Hanson - gets a haircut.

They are five Swedes with names like Dr Matt Destruction and Howlin Pelle Almqvist, who dress in co-ordinated black and white outfits. They put a Scandinavian pop sensibility to scratchy punk and good-time rock and are the latest buzz band on the indie scene. Their enigmatic energy and arrogance appealed to Alan McGee, who is hoping they can give a boost to his Poptones label.

There is hardly a musical style that Liverpool band The Coral do not blend into their weird and wonderful kaleidoscopic songs. The tunes mix ska, soul, jazz and everything in between - held together by lazy rock - to make them one of the most refreshing new bands for years. They have been in the middle of a bidding war between record labels who think the charts are ready for something a little different.

Just two years since forming "out of boredom", Leeds band The Music have been described as "potentially the most important group since Oasis" by NME. Their wide-eyed psychedelic rock is seen by some as a breath of life for UK guitar music and clarion call for teenagers. They have already supported Oasis, The Charlatans and New Order.

San Diego power-rockers POD - or Payable on Death - are going to burst onto the scene in the new year with their anthemic Alive single. They say they are trying to spread positive vibes, and do not hide their Christian beliefs - but their songs are no hymns, instead they are more in the same style as other recent US guitar heroes like Sum 41 and Linkin Park.

Her debut album Free Love was wildly acclaimed by critics when it came out in the summer of 2001 - and a big release for single Nice To You is likely to have the same effect on the public in February. Originally from Western Sahara, her music is uplifting singer-songwriter fare that puts her between Dido and Tracy Chapman.

Five for Fighting is just one man - John Ondrasik, 33, from Los Angeles, who has suddenly made the breakthrough in the United Stated after his touching song Superman was picked up by radio stations following 11 September. He appeared on the same bill as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and his hero Billy Joel at the Concert for New York as a result. His tunes and make him a cross between Elton John and US rock bands like Staind and Creed, which might be the right formula to win over an international audience.

The Best of the Rest

2002 is being tipped as the year that real rock bit back - and Hundred Reasons, Vex Red, The Kennedy Soundtrack, Hell Is For Heroes and Halo are all rousing guitar bands growling at the chart's door.

Electric Soft Parade: Have a supply of strong rock songs

Mancunians Moco follow the raw, punkish revival started by The Strokes - as do Ikara Colt and The Parkinsons.

The Electric Soft Parade are young rockers with strong tunes in the Teenage Fanclub mould, while Delta's catchy indie makes their spring album worth looking forward to.

Dark and dreamy Icelandic band Leaves and Primal Scream-esque Cooper Temple Clause are other guitar bands who could make a splash in 2002.

More garage stars are also due to emerge - MC Ultra, Pay As You Go and Heartless Crew lead the hunt, while So Solid Crew's MC Romeo will launch a solo career.

Among female singer-songwriters, Michelle Branch, signed to Madonna's label, is set for a hit with her infectious debut single Everywhere. Gemma Hayes is the cream of the more thoughtful crop while Shakira will establish herself as the female Ricky Martin.